Rice worth Rs 24 crore missing from Bhuvanagiri mill, five booked

During the inspection, officials found only 160 MT of paddy against the recorded stock of 6,688.808 MT.
Rice worth Rs 24 crore missing from Bhuvanagiri mill.
Rice worth Rs 24 crore missing from Bhuvanagiri mill.File Photo | Express
Updated on: 
2 min read

HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (TGSCSCL) has lodged a complaint with the Bhuvanagiri Rural police alleging that 6,700 metric tonnes (MT) of Custom Milled Rice (CMR) about the 2022-23 and 2024-25 Kharif Marketing Seasons (KMS) went missing from a rice mill. The estimated value of the missing rice is `24.3 crore.

In the complaint, Dachepally Harikrishna said TGSCSCL had entrusted paddy to M/s Yadadri Rice Industries at Anantharam village in Bhuvanagiri under a duly executed custom milling agreement for KMS 2022-23 and 2024-25 for milling and delivery of CMR.

The proprietor of the rice mill, Nune Venkateshwarlu, was acting as an agent of TGSCSCL, under the agreement and was holding the government paddy in a fiduciary capacity. The ownership of the paddy continued to vest with TGSCSCL, the complaint stated.

On July 4, 2026, FCI officials, along with Civil Supplies enforcement staff, conducted a joint physical verification of the paddy stocks available at the mill pertaining to Rabi 2024-25, as part of the process to grant an extension for delivery of the balance CMR.

During the inspection, officials found only 160 MT of paddy against the recorded stock of 6,688.808 MT. A shortage of 6,776.244 MT of government paddy was reported, with its value estimated at approximately `24,31,15,779 based on the economic cost of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the season.

Based on the complaint, the Bhongir Rural police registered a case under Sections 316(2), 316(5), 318(3) read with 3(5) of the BNS and Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act against Nune Venkateshwarlu, Boggarapu Veerabhadra Prasad, Kandukuri Mahenda, Jooluri Ram Mohan and Kottooru Naveena.

In another case, a joint team of the Nalgonda District Vigilance and Enforcement and Suryapet District Civil Supplies departments conducted surprise inspections at Vajra Rice Corporation and Vajra Vikas Rice Mart in Ballemla village of Suryapet.

Physical verification revealed a massive discrepancy between the actual stocks and the records. Officials found a shortage of 11,073.054 MT at Vajra Rice Corporation and 18,114.834 MT at Vajra Vikas Rice Mart, taking the total shortfall to 29,187.888 MT. The estimated value of the allegedly diverted paddy has been initially assessed at `69 crore.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com